Chapter 137: The Long Night VII

Well, that's complete nonsense.

He wasn't kind enough to remind his opponent exactly where the flaw was; even if he couldn't beat them, watching the opponent struggle to find any flaw was more to his taste.

Indeed, height, appearance, spiritual quality fluctuations, and even aura were all perfect.

No, they were simply the person himself.

But even if Little An didn't watch streamer guides and changed his taste to watch variety shows and TV dramas, and changed his usual body wash and soap... but the matrix couldn't be changed, right?

And ever since the mission started, he hadn't seen Little An use the matrix.

The An family's pot-throwing technique was indeed very powerful, with all kinds of changes emerging one after another.

However, until not long ago, Ji Jue searched through the video records remaining in the villa and finally confirmed—Little An had never used the matrix!

Sword Qi Extraction?

Never heard of it, don't know.

Indeed, maybe, but... do you think I'll believe you?

At this moment, outside the villa, Little Jiu, who had turned into a hummingbird, shared her vision with Ji Jue, piercing through the darkness, stripping away the mist, and easily locked onto the corpse floating in the pond.

Comparing it with the Security Bureau database access permission he had scrounged from Tong Hua, he had already identified the identity—a famous assassin in the Tide City Wilderness Market.

Bai Lu Chosen One · Slaughter Blood!

As early as four years ago, he had already broken through the Metamorphosis Rank and stepped into the Rebirth stage.

A Chosen One at least Level 6, had died silently in the pond, with a large hole pierced through his heart, but his face showed no fear or despair, instead carrying a satisfied smile.

As if he had witnessed some great miracle before he died.

The outcome of the battle between hunter and prey had already been decided.

But such an amazing harvest, why didn't Bai Lu favor you?

Unless... in Bai Lu's view, such an opponent, for the 'Little An' in front of him, couldn't even be called an opponent, just a level that could be handled at will.

Just that!

"Remember what I said?"

In the silence, Ji Jue sighed: "Trust is sometimes a very fragile thing, but suspicion is very powerful. Besides, it's been so long, even if I were stupid again, I wouldn't recognize my friend wrong."

Habits? Body wash? Matrix? Or perhaps the outcome?

Those things were merely clues.

At best, they were just triggers for suspicion.

Habits can change, body wash can be swapped, and the matrix could potentially malfunction.

Moreover, even if Xiao An were to brutally slaughter Lu Xue right in front of Ji Jue, Ji Jue would only clap in admiration, congratulating his friend on advancing further and becoming so powerful.

The evidence that truly settled the matter, making all doubts and assumptions settle like dust, was the 'self-proof' the other party had just revealed before his eyes.

A nail.

Although he had never said it out loud, he had actually secretly studied it...

Just while helping to install the prosthetic limb, he had taken the opportunity to touch it, just once. Then, later, under the pretext of version upgrades or debugging, he had figured out the specific condition and structure completely.

For such a long time, besides being a workaholic in the workshop, he had been pondering how to remove that damn thing without triggering an alarm; from cracking the alarm module to the methods of removal, he could practically write a thesis on it!

And the result?!

You actually came to fool me with a fake?

Who are you trying to trick!

"What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong?!"

Just then, heavy footsteps sounded from the end of the corridor, and Old Tang rushed over, poking his head in: "Infighting over the loot?"

Another job!

He had originally wanted to shout that he could take the job for extra pay, but after seeing the situation in the room, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded, blurting out, "Holy crap! You've got some real guts, buddy! You even dare to scam the money of the Bai Lu hunter An family!?"

It's true that one discards the bow once the birds are gone, but you really can't hide this bow at all, okay!

You stabbed a little hunter tonight; believe it or not, the An family will swarm out before dawn to finish you off?

In less than a short second, he had already started considering how to distance himself from Ji Jue.

Don't know him, don't understand him, not clear about anything.

Damn it, I don't want the final payment anymore!

Leaving immediately.

Whether it was a pity or a relief, the two people in the room didn't even glance at him, treating him like air, staring at each other.

"When did it start?"

Ji Jue asked curiously: "Tonight? Or, after entering the villa? No, it should be even earlier, much earlier, not just when we encountered the sin-tainted mercenaries, but way back then, so that's how it is..."

He sighed in realization: "From the afternoon we met, it wasn't Xiao An anymore, was it?"

The sound of applause rang out.

"Everything is correct."

'Xiao An' smiled: "As expected of Brother Ji Jue."

"I told you, stop using that address."

Ji Jue irritably spat out his last bit of patience and raised his hand; his right hand was empty, but in the darkness beneath the ceiling, walls, and floor of the room, one red dot of plastic explosive after another lit up.

The entire room had long since become Ji Jue's trap and a dead end with no hope of survival.

Yet he had imagined countless scenarios, but never thought it would be used in such a place.

"You only have one chance to answer, so please think carefully before you answer—"

Ji Jue asked for the last time, no longer hiding the coldness and killing intent in his eyes, "My friend, Xiao An, where exactly did he go!"

"Hmm? I clearly already told you, I am Xiao An."

The youth tilted his head to look at him, full of admiration and praise, clapping and sighing: "As expected of Brother Ji Jue, I understand why A-Ran likes you so much."

Ji Jue froze in place.

Because in the instant that sentence hadn't finished, the opponent's figure had already vanished from before his eyes, and the voice came from beside his ear, within arm's reach.

Right in front of Ji Jue.

Just like that, he stood on tiptoe, and something soft with a faint coolness landed on Ji Jue's cheek.

It was his lips.

"Because—"

That soft breath blew into his ear, telling him: "I think I've started to like you too."

In the dead silence, everything seemed to freeze.

Only the stiff Ji Jue turned his head with difficulty, looking at the figure smiling with hands behind his back, staggering back a step, terrified, bewildered, dazed, desperate, suffocating.

"What are you doing? What are you doing!"

The moment he reacted, he scrambled to raise his sleeve, frantically wiping his face, his heart already completely cold to the bottom, dead through and through, feeling that from now on there would be no more joy or sorrow.

Is this the ultimate insult?!

Ji Jue's tears were almost flowing out.

Nineteen or twenty years of purity, lost in a single night...

I'm dirty!

What the hell? What are you doing?!

When did this world become so crazy that I can't understand it at all?

Ji Jue's eyes were unfocused, confused, his mind only wanting to hit a wall.

He couldn't understand what was going on at all.

Finally, he asked in despair:

"Who exactly are you?!"

"Eh? Still haven't figured it out, Brother Ji Jue? Or is it that you don't want to think in that direction?"

Xiao An tilted his head in confusion, blinked his eyes, and gradually became mischievous: "I am that black-hearted bad sister you said would help A-Ran fight and would definitely win."

Just like that, he raised his hand, took the hairband from the back of his head, and tossed it aside.

And so, the pitch-black hair scattered and extended in the breeze, a concise and neat ear-length bob, but with a charm completely different from Xiao An's.

From the stretching of muscles and bones, she grew half a head taller out of thin air, becoming increasingly tall and slender.

And with the relaxing of the eyebrows, the originally neutral face changed slightly, revealing an out-and-out young girl's appearance, with a beautiful countenance even surpassing Xiao An's.

Just like that, the girl named An Ning raised her head again, her smile cunning: "You clearly said so many bad things about me behind my back, yet you can't recognize me to my face, isn't that too much?"

"..."

Silence, in the long silence, Ji Jue was dazed, as if he heard the sound of his brain matter boiling.

CPU overloaded.

Unable to understand the situation and changes before him, he wanted to open his mouth several times, but couldn't speak.

Completely unable to understand.

"What a pity..."

An Ning smiled regretfully, "Since I've been exposed, then there's no other way."

Amidst the boring errands and the dull, long wait, she decided to visit her runaway younger brother for the first time in a long while, and then give him some cruel and straightforward family education.

It was just a whim to take her brother's place, walking freely in this city in the guise of An Ran.

She had originally wanted to mock the boring life he chose, but she didn't expect that he was actually hiding such a surprise from his sister...

"Goodbye, Brother Ji Jue."

The girl looked back and smiled, her shining pupils like the light reflecting the bright moon and stars, saying her final farewell:

"Will you miss me?"

Just like a phantom that never existed here.

She fell into the bright moonlight outside the window, like a kite, following the sea breeze, disappearing between the night sky and the stars.

Only the dazed Ji Jue remained.

With a bewildered face.

After a long time, the dumbfounded Old Tang finally reacted, looking at him, incredulous: "You..."

"I..."

Ji Jue nodded blankly.

"He... she..."

Old Tang was so choked up he couldn't speak, his two hands gesturing, not knowing what he wanted to say, but he saw Ji Jue wave his hand: "Stop talking, as long as you shut up, the mission gets a 100% positive review, and I'll have Old Lin send you a bonus."

He turned and left: "Let me have some peace."

And so, only Old Tang was left alone in the room, staring at a pile of flashing bombs.

After being confused for almost half an hour, Ji Jue sat by the pond before he finally sobered up, recalling what she had once said—it was Old Zhang who discovered her first—he immediately opened his phone, not caring about the elderly needing to maintain their health in the middle of the night, and sent a message directly.

【?】

Soon, the message showed as read.

Finally, after waiting for a long time, an emoji was sent back.

——An old lady making a heart shape at the screen, a line of large red characters floating out from the roses: Wishing you a beautiful day!

Ji Jue's vision went black.

He didn't even need a *deus ex machina* to peek at Old Zhang's camera; he could guess how happily the old man was laughing right now!

You guys in the North Mountain District are really hiding dragons and crouching tigers!

What's Tong Hua? Old Zhang, you're the one who eats gossip the hardest!

Actually watching the show for so long without a sound!

No wonder when Sister Wen arranged for Xiao An to follow him, the old man laughed so happily; so it was waiting here, right?

Ji Jue sighed; at this point, it was meaningless to harp on why you didn't tell me.

Besides, with Xiao An's sister as a personal bodyguard, I'm afraid even if the whole villa exploded, I wouldn't lose a single hair, so how could anything happen?

Thinking of this, he eventually sent a message to Xiao An as well.

【Are you okay?】

Soon, it showed as read, but after 'typing...' for a long time, a crying cat emoji was sent back.

And then, a series of explanations:

【My sister forced me!】

【I can't beat her!】

【Brother Ji Jue, believe me, I didn't mean to lie to you!】

【I'm sorry, please don't be angry!】

Ji Jue smiled, and after confirming Xiao An's safety, he replied: 【It's okay, I was just startled, as long as you're fine. I almost triggered the explosives with your sister, thank your sister for her mercy later on for me.】

Xiao An was silent, and after a long time, sent another crying cat emoji.

Didn't know what to say.

Instead, Ji Jue felt a sense of relief.

A long time later, when the screen went dark, Ji Jue felt physically and mentally exhausted, leaning on the lounge chair, but finally couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"So it wasn't a man..."

He stared at the bright moon and starlight in the night sky, but inexplicably thought of the girl's figure as she left.

And those eyes that seemed to reflect the stars...